iPod Mini, the tiny hard drive-based music player that suddenly makes standard iPod players look the size of a bus (with thanks to my newly-developed conscience there for rewriting that to take out a reference to Kirsty Alley), has finally got a global release date.
After months of component shortages, Apple are now confident that they can supply global demand. Coming to a shop near you, the player will cost about UK£179 (€268) in the UK – but will without any doubt be considerably cheaper everywhere else in the world.
10:35 08/07/2004 When? 24th of July.
The iPod Mini will be competing with the lower end of the digital music player market, and will probably steal even more of the market from Rio and Creative. No doubt the imminent arrival of Sony’s new models prompted a personal visit from Steve Jobs, Return of the Jedi-style, to the Toshiba factory to encourage productivity. My thoughts go out to those poor workers who were possibly beaten to within an inch of their lives to produce enough 4gb Microdrives to ensure that no rollerblader will have to go without a pink MP3 player in Hyde Park this summer.
(Simon has asked me to point out that, to our knowledge, no-one was actually harmed in the production of the iPod Mini.)